Harry For The Holidays (Sony)
Harry Connick Jr.
Released October 28, 2003
Last.fm Top Christmas Jazz Albums
YouTube:
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About:
Among the many joys of the holiday season is the opportunity to savor a wealth of wonderful Christmas music. It takes a rare artist like Harry Connick, Jr., to both honor the tradition evoked by cherished, sacred and secular holiday songs and personalize the effort with his own new interpretations and compositions. Harry does just that on his new Columbia disc Harry for the Holidays, which is sure to be one of the most acclaimed and enjoyed efforts of the year.
Harry has taken this particular sleigh ride before. His 1993 album, When My Heart Finds Christmas, is among the most popular holiday collections of the past decade. After ten years of hearing requests for a sequel, the multi-talented singer/pianist/composer/arranger decided that the time was right.
“It wasn’t about the success of the last Christmas album as much as the opportunity to record some more of the great Christmas songs,” he explains. “After ten years, it was time to do it again.”
Harry for the Holidays began with a search for songs he liked.
“I wasn’t really looking for any specific balance,” he notes. “I just start with the melodies, and then look at the lyrics to make sure that they work for me.”
This time out, the process has yielded a generous program of 16 songs, ranging from the frolicking joy of “Frosty the Snowman” to the solemn grandeur of “Silent Night,” with four of Harry’s own originals along the way.
Family input played a part in the creation of the album. “My kids didn’t influence me that much,” he laughs, “because if they had their way all of the serious songs would be saved for the next Christmas record and I’d just do `Frosty’ and `Santa Claus is Coming to Town’ over and over again. But `Frosty’ does bring back personal memories, because in my pre-cable youth it was always a big night when the `Frosty’ cartoon came on the TV. And `This Christmas’ is included because my wife Jill loves that song, and loves an earlier version that I had done [with Branford Marsalis, on the Columbia anthology A Jazzy Wonderland. I was reluctant to do it again, but you know how it goes, you must obey.”
Among Harry’s own contributions to the program is a duet with George Jones on “Nothing New for New Year (for Me.)
“He’s an amazing talent,” Harry says of the legendary country singer. “I don’t know how someone can be that musical naturally. The sound of his voice is like something sent from God. George got the winning lottery ticket when it comes to a voice.”
Harry’s other compositions touch on different seasonal emotions.
“`I Come with Love’ is a Catholic layman’s view of Christ’s life in three stages, paralleling the Holy Trinity. It was actually based on the second “Omen” movie, the scene where the boy realized that he was the Antichrist, and how he must have felt. The song is about what Christ felt when he found out that he was different. `I’m Gonna Be the First One (Up on Christmas Morning)’ is just from personal experience. I was always the first one up as a kid, but I still couldn’t open any presents until everyone else got up. I wanted to capture that `hurry up and wait’ thing that kids go through every Christmas. And `The Happy Elf’ is another kids’ song that came from thinking about how cool it would be to work in Santa’s shop.”
All of these songs – for that matter, all of Harry for the Holidays – are graced by Harry’s arrangements for his stellar big band or orchestrations for a full complement of strings and winds.
“My last Christmas album was the first time I had ever written orchestral arrangements,” says Harry, “and I cried when I found out that I had figured it out. I’m still young as an arranger, and I’m trying to learn as I go. My writing is subconsciously influenced by the great arrangers I heard when I was focused on great singers and instrumentalists, like that shout chorus in `Blue Christmas,’ which I can see my Dad moving his body to.”
At the same time, Harry can maneuver the strings on “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem” and raise images of Beethoven.
“Different songs call for different treatments,” he acknowledges. “The only version of `Blue Christmas’ I knew was Elvis’ version, and although there were numerous ways to interpret it, I thought it was best to leave it – except for that shout chorus. On `Oh Little Town of Bethlehem,’ in contrast, I wanted the music to reflect my version of Bethlehem, sort of globally Middle Eastern.”
Every one of Harry’s notions is interpreted flawlessly by the accompanying musicians, with a special nod going to the members of his dynamic big band, who excel in both ensemble and solo passages.
“That sax section is like having four wide receivers on a football team who can all catch the ball,” Harry marvels, in a compliment that could equally apply to his talented brass and rhythm players.
Harry for the Holidays is the latest example of Harry’s boundless energy and creativity, a burst of seasonal joy that should carry his world of fans well into the New Year.
Track Listing:
1. Frosty the Snowman (Steve Nelson / Jack Rollins) 03:34
2. Blue Christmas (Bill Hayes / Jay Johnson) 03:23
3. The Christmas Waltz (Sammy Cahn / Jule Styne) 03:18
4. I Wonder as I Wander (Traditional) 03:07
5. Silver Bells (Ray Evans / Jay Livingston) 03:58
6. Mary’s Little Boy Child (Jester Hairston) 05:10
7. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (J. Fred Coots / Haven Gillespie) 03:56
8. The Happy Elf (Harry Connick, Jr.) 03:42
9. I’ll Be Home for Christmas (Kim Gannon / Walter Kent / Buck Ram) 05:57
10. I Come With Love (Harry Connick, Jr.) 04:43
11. Nature Boy (Eden Ahbez) 03:49
12. O Little Town of Bethlehem (Lewis Redner / Traditional) 03:25
13. I’m Gonna Be the First One (Harry Connick, Jr.) 03:27
14. This Christmas (Donny Hathaway / Nadine McKinnor) 03:47
15. Nothin’ New for New Year (Harry Connick, Jr.) 04:08
16. Silent Night (Franz Gruber / Joseph Mohr) 04:54
Personnel:
Harry Connick Jr.: piano & vocals
Ned Goold: alto sax
James Greene: alto sax
Jerry Weldon: tenor sax
Mike Karn: tenor sax
Dave Schumacher: baritone sax
Roger Ingram: trumpet
Derrick Gardner: trumpet
Leroy Jones: trumpet
Joe Magnarelli: trumpet
Mark Mullins: trombone
Craig Klein: trombone
John Allred: trombone
Joe Barati: bass trombone
Neal Caine: bass
Arthur Lattin II: drums
Lucien Barbarin: percussion
Nothing New For New Year
George Jones: vocal
Harry Connick, Jr.: vocal, piano, bass, and drums
Paul Franklin: pedal steel
Biff Watson: guitar
Arranged, Orchestrated and Conducted by Harry Connick, Jr.
Recorded May 13-22, 2003, at Capitol Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Nothing New for New Year recorded at Ocean Way and Starstruck Studios in Nashville
Produced by Tracey Freeman
Recorded and Mixed by Gregg Rubin
Mastered by Vlado Meller
Review:
Ten years after his first holiday-themed album, When My Heart Finds Christmas, pianist/vocalist Harry Connick, Jr. found the spirit again with Harry for the Holidays. Still centered on Connick’s vocals, this foray into “tinsel tunes” is more jazz oriented than his 1993 release and allows for his growth as a performer, arranger, and conductor. Like a Brooks Brothers’ suit worn at Mardi Gras, Connick’s writing for his big band and full orchestra mixes New Orleans rhythms with crisp, swinging arrangements that call to mind ’60s Michel Legrand and Quincy Jones. Nothing Connick has done before can quite prepare you for the screaming trumpets and rollicking second-line-style swing of his leadoff take on “Frosty the Snowman.” In fact, most of the classic standards here, including “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and “Silver Bells,” get highly unexpected treatments as on “Santa Clause Is Coming to Town,” which is worked up into a funky, brass-band “go-go” dance number. Similarly tasty is “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” which not only features some of the best crooning the Will and Grace star has ever done, but also a beautifully modest Count Basie-inspired piano solo. There is also an appealing balance to Harry for the Holidays between songs of Christmas nostalgia and heartfelt ruminations on what the season means in a deeper sense. Throw in four original compositions that touch on Scott Walker-esque orchestrated pop, Tin Pan Alley songcraft, and country — yes, that is the George Jones dueting with Connick on “Nothin’ New for the New Year” — and not only do you have one of the best holiday albums in years, but easily the best album of Connick’s career.
Matt Collar (AllMusic)
